Unprecedented payment highlights the increasingly lucrative compensation packages for heads of top universities

Yale University made a special $8.5 million payment to former president Richard C. Levin, an unprecedented lump-sum payout highlighting the increasingly lucrative compensation for leaders at the nation’s top universities.

The “additional retirement benefit,” distributed after Mr. Levin stepped down at the end of the 2012-2013 academic year, was disclosed in Yale’s latest federal tax return, filed Friday.